After weeks of clouds and haze, tonight broke out clear. Mons Pico is on tap for tomorrow, but tonight Mons Piton is the star - WOW! It is still well beyond the terminator but the peak is up in the sunlight. A glowing semi-circle with sparkles. I just gazed at it and watched the terminator creep towards its base. Lots of action nearby - Mons Blanc and Prom. Deville made a nice chain not far away. The shadows of Montes Caucasus and the rim of Cassini were going down. The east side of Cassini was all wrinkly with a coulpe of rills not far away. Hyginus was an interesting feature I had not really noticed before - the light was just right.As the evening progressed seeing got better and better. All the way to 6.7mm barlowed 2X with my ED102 (210X). (2X4.7 was no good).Thank goodness for my observing chair. A nice evening truly gazing comfortably.I took a few peeks at Jupiter, M42, Rigel and a couple of double stars near the Pleiades while waiting for the moon to turn towards the sun some more. What a joyful night.

This happens to be the first anniversary since I got my first telescope (8SE). That instrument was parked because the early evening was cloudy; looking at stars was out of the question so it was left inside. I took out the 102 because the clouds cleared away while I walked the dog - the moon beckoned me and I was done...I am thankful for all the advice from my forum friends that have allowed me to take advantage of such beautiful sights. I hope that some of you read this.

Maybe a good report about Mons Pico and Plato tomorrow: I have Edosaurus's schedule in hand.

That instrument was parked because the early evening was cloudy; looking at stars was out of the question so it was left inside. I took out the 102 because the clouds cleared away while I walked the dog - the moon beckoned me and I was done...I am thankful for all the advice from my forum friends that have allowed me to take advantage of such beautiful sights. I hope that some of you read this.

Read it and enjoyed it!Thanks for the Piton report. I will have to see Hyginus, I don't think I've looked for it before. Right now though I am "between scopes", so all I can do is read the reports here and imagine. Which is a lot better than nothing!Ya the Pico/Piton area is really special, and strange. I miss it...

Great photo, great report. You mentioned the eyepieces you used, the binoviewer, and how you took the picture. But I don't see the most important aspect of the observation and I'm surprised no one else asked about it:

I took a good long look at the moon tonight with my WO 22x70 binoculars... it's really something I should do more often. Mons Pico was looking prominent and bright - to be honest I wasn't expecting to be able to see it at all without more magnification. Pico Beta, very close to it, was also visible but less prominent, maybe half as bright. Montes Teneriffe, also nearby (in the photo at the top of the thread, Mons Pico is directly below Plato, Pico Beta is directly below Mons Pico, and Montes Teneriffe is to the left of Mons Pico) was at approx. the same brightness as Pico Beta, but a bit more prominent because it covers a wider area. Really, the whole scene looked pretty much like the photo at the top of the thread, at approx. that scale, but without the long Pico shadow due to the timing. And not quite as crisp, the TEC sure is a better optic than the WO, though the WO is definitely enjoyable.